To be excited by the music of John Williams is to be excited by the movies he scores

[Quintus 5,391]

What it says.

Thanks for voting!

[gkgyver 1,638]

Well, I'm glad I could function as the springboard for another poll.

[Quintus 5,391]

[King Mark 2,924]

no

only certain genres he scores lend themselves to better scores

[Jeff 0]

No, but generally, as far as I can think of at the moment, my taste for his scores corresponds almost exactly with my love for the respective film. Not sure why that is.

[gkgyver 1,638]

Schindler's List is superb, yet I don't give a crap about the movie.

Same with ET.

A rare instance is Close Encounters; I find the score breathtaking, but the movie surpasses it.

[Quintus 5,391]

You don't give a crap about E.T.? That's a shame.

[gkgyver 1,638]

I know.

But you're not supposed to supress your feelings ...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

People who don't like the movie ET were beaten as a child, or should have been beaten a lot more.

It's actually an early warning to possible becoming a serial killer, like killing animals during your childhood.

[Quintus 5,391]

I personally associate E.T. indifference with paedophilia and racial hatred.

[Melange 446]

I own scores by folks like Goldsmith,Poledouris and others, yet in quite a number of cases haven't seen the movies they are soundtracks for.

But when this topic came up, now I'm not sure I own 'blind' scores like that for John Williams.

Apart from the odd track on a compilation, I think all his scores in my collection are for films I've seen.

Melange ~ Didn't really make note of that before

[Richard Penna 2,082]

Nope.

[Datameister 1,394]

There's definitely a correlation for me, but it's not an ironclad thing. Generally, if I love a film that Williams scored, I love the score, too, but there are also scores I love for films I don't love or even downright dislike. TOD comes to mind - as I've said in other threads, I find that to be a pretty terribly Indy film, but I still think the score is absolutely fantastic, even though it fits the very qualities I dislike in the film. Hook is another good example...the film annoys me, but the score is magical. So loving the film isn't a necessary precursor to loving the score...although it's worth mentioning that I was initially unimpressed by both of those scores, and only grew to love them after I got better at listening to them without thinking about their films. Then there are scores like Home Alone, where I haven't seen the film at all (or in a very long time) and I just enjoy them for their sheer musical value, albeit colored by whatever I do know about the film.

As for other composers...that's really quite a mixed bag. Generally, loving a film elevates my opinion of its score, and vice versa...and better films do tend to inspire better scores on average...but it can happen any which way.

[Koray Savas 2,095]

No, which is the case for every composer. Take Giacchino's upcoming Monte Carlo. You couldn't pay me to watch that movie (well maybe ) but I can't wait for the score.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,476]

The definitive answer is No. The proof of this is the Olympics and NBC News. I don't care for either of those things outside of JW's music and it's some of my favorite material by him.

[Datameister 1,394]

^ Another good example, yep. I mean, I think the fact that both works are so appropriate to their respective domains is helpful, and I don't really have a problem with either of them, but when I listen to those pieces, it's because the music is amazing, plain and simple.

[crocodile 6,294]

No, definitely not. I watch some of the movies solely because I want to hear scores in context.

Karol

[Romão 1,931]

Normally, I get interested in a movie that has a JW score, and not the other way around. Case in point, I haven't watched a single Harry Potter movie since Azkaban

[Datameister 1,394]

Yeah, I wouldn't have been paying any attention to Tintin and War Horse if not for the prospect of two new Williams scores.

[Romão 1,931]

Those are exceptions, as they are Spielberg movies and also, I'm a lifelong Tintin fan, but I totally lost interest in the HP movies after JW's departure (I did read all the books, and I found them to get worse and worse, so my interest in their movie adaptations is nonexistant without JW's music)

[Jeff 0]

The definitive answer is No. The proof of this is the Olympics and NBC News. I don't care for either of those things outside of JW's music and it's some of my favorite material by him.

Funny - I love the Olympics and NBC News on their own. The music really makes them exciting.

[King Mark 2,924]

I think it fair to say the majority of this board likes movies such as Indiana Jones,Superman, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park...so in this case the thread title applies. A lot of threads are about these movies. Probably not many people here would give a crap about Harry Potter if Williams didn't score it.

Tintin is kind of a classic of my childhood too.

But outside of that it's Williams music on it's own that counts.

[Datameister 1,394]

I still would have seen the Potter films without Williams' involvement, but as the post-Azkaban films have never failed to remind me, the fact that Williams was involved definitely helped.

[King Mark 2,924]

I'm not even sure I would have read the books if we didn't keep talking about HP here.

We'd probably all have read the Twilight books and the board dominated by Twilight discussions if Williams scored the movies

[Datameister 1,394]

I doubt that. Certainly not true for me. I started reading the Potter books because I heard some promising things about them, and I continued reading them because those things were true. Then they started making films, which I always found to be rather inferior to the books, but the first few had some fantastic music. I've never heard anything about that would make me want to try those books or films. If Williams had scored them, I'd probably give the soundtracks a shot, and they'd probably be good, but I dunno if I'd ever actually see the films.

[King Mark 2,924]

I guess you weren't around here in 2000 when the Williams buzz was building on Potter

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,476]

Yeah, I also primarily saw Harry Potter because of the Williams music.

[Datameister 1,394]

I guess you weren't around here in 2000 when the Williams buzz was building on Potter

Nope. I joined this site right as Williams started to slip into partial de facto retirement from film scoring, haha. I was a lot younger in 2000, and my Williams fandom was still rather embryonic. But the music immediately caught my attention in the context of the film...I thought it was absolutely wonderful, and when I saw Williams' name on the screen, I recognized him as the composer of my beloved Star Wars soundtracks. At the time, I think that was still my primary exposure to him. Come to think of it, HP:SS was probably the score that prompted me to think about all the other scores out there that Williams must have done. Anyway, I got the OST for Christmas that year, and since then, it's been a continual process of exploring more and more of his musical universe. Fortunately, I've taken it slow enough for there still to be a fair number of lesser works that I haven't touched, so even though I don't expect too many more new scores out of Williams (), I still have a lot of firsts ahead of me.

[Wojo 2,442]

We'd probably all have read the Twilight books and the board dominated by Twilight discussions if Williams scored the movies

Oh what a terrible notion. I couldn't imagine a more wretched series of books and movies to feel obligated to watch just because I happen to like its composer.

But when this topic came up, now I'm not sure I own 'blind' scores like that for John Williams.

Case in point.

I own the scores for, but have never seen the films of:

1941 (I watched the first half)

AI

Amazing Stories (not even one episode)

Bachelor Flat

Black Sunday

Family Plot

Far and Away (just pieces)

The Fury

How to Steal a Million

Memoirs of a Geisha (just pieces)

Monsignor

None but the Brave

Schindler's List

Seven Years in Tibet

[Josh500 1,602]

JW is probably the exception.

But normally, yeah. If I don't get excited about a movie, I don't get excited about the score.

[Quintus 5,391]

I think it fair to say the majority of this board likes movies such as Indiana Jones,Superman, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park...so in this case the thread title applies.

This was my main thinking.

I was just seeing if there was any correlation between the two.

Would we love JW as much if he'd instead gotten all the movies Goldsmith scored?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

No. John Williams is not very good in scoring bad movies.

[Quintus 5,391]

There might be some truth in that.

[Josh500 1,602]

Well, I think nobody is good at scoring bad movies.

Unless you're the kind of person that really, really likes bad movies.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Goldsmith was an expert in doing respectable to great scores for really bad movies.

[Josh500 1,602]

Well, Goldsmith did many mediocre movies, but I don't think they were bad.

And yes, he did some very good movies too (Poltergeist, Basic Instinct).

[Quintus 5,391]

The reason Goldsmith wrote so many good scores for bad movies is because he didn't have the integrity of John Williams.

[Sharkissimo 1,971]

The reason Goldsmith wrote so many good scores for bad movies is because he didn't have the integrity of John Williams.

I think it's more the case of not having as good judgement. Friends and family of Goldsmith have said this was the case. According to them, while we was writing his sketches, he'd slowly realise the film would be shite - but had to go on regardless. Studio contracts and all.

Or sometimes, he'd think highly of the film in its script-form, or in an earlier cut - but be heartbroken when he saw it at the cinema. i.e. THE FINAL CONFLICT.

[publicist 4,484]

Without putting a too fine point on it, the man was a workhorse. And with 80% of all movies released per year being crap, chances for stinkers were big. Look at Williams' resume and you will find that apart from his franchises, he didn't do a whole lot of 'regular' movies, at least not after JAWS.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

I think Goldsmith just had a similar work ethic to Christopher Walken's.

[Quintus 5,391]

And Samuel L. Jackson's.

[AC1 3,565]

To be excited by the music of John Williams is to be excited by the movies he scores.

No. The music of Stanley and Iris is better than the film. OTOH, the music and Prequels deserve each other.

Alex

[Koray Savas 2,095]

And Samuel L. Jackson's.

Sam Jackson will say yes to any film that's brought to him?

[King Mark 2,924]

the music and Prequels deserve each other.

The SW Prequel scores are considered very good by a lot of us (not to the level of the OT but..).If the only true legacy of the SW prequels is 6 hours of fairly great JW music, then it's more than what we get out of most movies

[Wojo 2,442]

If the only true legacy of the SW prequels is 6 hours of fairly great JW music

Don't worry, it's not. The true legacy of the SW prequels is that George Lucas should have stopped making movies in 1989. It took until 2005 to realize this.

[Luke Skywalker 1,284]

exciting is not the word i would use, R2.

[Mr. Breathmask 480]

No.

[Wojo 2,442]

Since yinz are no fun, I removed my utterly devastatingly unfunny comment.

[mrbellamy 5,231]

And Samuel L. Jackson's.

Sam Jackson will say yes to any film that's brought to him?

Many actors do, actually. The elite few can afford to be choosy, but most either need the work or just like it.

As to the OP, an unequivocal no. I would even go so far as to say that to be excited by his music =/= to be excited by it in the context of the actual movie. I just watched Jurassic Park for the first time in years, and though I adore the score on album, it struck me how often I really resisted the use of it in the film.

[Ollie 859]

No, which is the case for every composer. Take Giacchino's upcoming Monte Carlo. You couldn't pay me to watch that movie (well maybe ) but I can't wait for the score.

Those are exceptions, as they are Spielberg movies and also, I'm a lifelong Tintin fan, but I totally lost interest in the HP movies after JW's departure (I did read all the books, and I found them to get worse and worse, so my interest in their movie adaptations is nonexistant without JW's music)

The reason Goldsmith wrote so many good scores for bad movies is because he didn't have the integrity of John Williams.

I think it's more the case of not having as good judgement. Friends and family of Goldsmith have said this was the case. According to them, while we was writing his sketches, he'd slowly realise the film would be shite - but had to go on regardless. Studio contracts and all.

Or sometimes, he'd think highly of the film in its script-form, or in an earlier cut - but be heartbroken when he saw it at the cinema. i.e. THE FINAL CONFLICT.

It's very easy to read a synopsis or script and come away thinking, damn this is going to be a great film, only to see the finished product and wonder WTF?

Perhaps that's why Williams says he prefers to see the rough cut of the film before he goes away to compose.

I'm more excited by the composer's music. I don't care if I even see the film. I just want the music.